Macro1.pptVIP

Macroeconomics Lecture 1 Macroeconomics as a Science Economic System Economic system can briefly be distinguished in terms of the system of enterprises (largely depends on ownership); the mechanism of resource allocation (planning mechanism and market mechanism). Economic System (continued) How economic system can impact the individual behavior? Objective (mainly the firm?) to pursue (profit, market share, political interest….) The Available Economic Resource What is the economic resource？ Natural resource The resource created by economic activities（e.g. fixed assets); The resource which is untouchable (e.g. human capital, knowledge capital); Resources can be created but also can be destructed. The Available Economic Resource (continued) 经济资源与南北差别 从个人角度讲，贫富差别最重要原因是个人所拥有的资源的差别。 从国家角度讲，人均所拥有的资源决定了该国的经济发展水平。 发展中国家与发达国家 中国地大物博吗？ 当人们拥有更多资源时，其经济活动的行为选择空间就会更大，从而其经济活动的效益及生活品质就会更好。 经济的发展过程实际上可以看成是经济资源不断累积的过程。 经济学分析框架之三部曲 经济学分析框架的三部曲 上述关于现代经济学研究方法和分析框架的讨论基本上可以概括为一个三步曲： 界定经济环境； 确定经济人行为目标：反映自私和理性； 分析经济运行：得出众多经济人各种经济行为的综合表现。 经济学分析框架之三部曲(继续) 经济学分析框架之三部曲(继续) 几点说明： 上述三步曲应该说是经济学分析的标准范式，任何合理的经济学分析都应该遵循这样一种范式。 当然，合理的经济学分析并不意味着合格。 按所研究的内容、读者对象和严谨性要求的不同，具体的研究过程有可能极为复杂。 例如，为了完成这三步曲，经济学家们可能会建立数学模型，借用一定的数学工具来进行分析，与此同时，为了使研究所得的结果更具有说服力，人们还会利用数据进行检验。 * * What is Macroeconomics? What is Economics？ Normative Definition: Economics is the science that studies how to efficiently allocate economic resources (what should we do?). Positive Definition: Economics is the science that studies how an economy operates or how economic variables are determined under the given economic environment (what happen?). What is Macroeconomics? (continued) After we have understood what is economics, the difference between micro- and macro-economics (in terms of positive definition) becomes clear: Microeconomics is the study of how microeconomic variables (such the price and output of individual product) are determined; Macroeconomics is the study of how macroeconomic variables (such as GDP, emplo